Chapter 4

I Really Wish I Had My Sketchbook

-~:{+}:~-

The White Queen's palace was far from a humble abode, and reminiscent of a fairy tale castle. This brunette had only seen images of castles, never actually being in one. It resided upon a hill, surrounded by the city, filled with glistening white buildings, if not pale, often pastel, shades. There were such grand spires, and charcoal shingles on cone roofs. The castle seemed to have been built out of a small crater or something within the scenic hill, as there was even a stream running through the castle's lowest level. Elise spun around and around while following her guide, constantly loosing his grip so she could gawk at the graceful sight.

{What does this remind me of… Perhaps like those images I saw of Santorini? No, more Byzantine. Or better yet those castles in Germany's Black Forest? But I'm still thinking along the lines of maybe Russo-Byzantine. If anything, it's kinda some sort of châteauesque style, with Rococo elements. Arrgh. But everything looks like it could be Art Nouveau! I really want my sketchbook right now…}

"Whoah!"

Yanking the girl foreword, the pair soon reached a pair of guards. Edwin's sudden stop brought Elise fully back into reality when she just about ran into him. Elise thought it curious, as most people were without eyes. The guard was shown an odd-looking chess piece, and beckoned the two to follow. They were led into a large chamber. It appeared as if also could serve as a ballroom of some sort, but the main focus of the room revealed that it was, at least currently, an audience chamber. On sort of platform was of course a throne. There were elaborate candle sticks on each side, and then the wall receded backwards towards windows. Above in a balcony, there stood a woman clad in clothes white as snow, a dazzling circlet with dangling jewels adorning her head. Gazing downward at the two guests, she smiled with a surprisingly bubbly atmosphere. She greeted them with a light, bouncy voice.

"Welcome to my home! I am the White Queen Aria. Young lass, my guards have just told me that you could be a foreigner. Is that right?"

"Yes, you're Majesty." said Elise, with a small curtsey.

"Oh my. This is quite exciting indeed! Foreigners are quite rare here. Quite quite. An there has not been one in my domain before. Remind me, rook, weren't there stories of another foreigner in one of the neighboring countries. Oh, how jealous I was towards those in - what area was it again?"

"It was one of the suit countries, your Majesty." answered Edwin.

"That's right! She might be in the Country of Clovers right now… Or was it Diamond? Hmmmm. Either way, you are quite welcome to stay here, if you wish. It could be fun! Someone please show her to a room."

Before anymore could be said, servants ushered Elise towards the door with the wave of this strange queen's hand. But before she forgot, Queen Aria had one more question to ask.

"Ah! Mademoiselle, what was your name again?"

Turning to walk backwards, Elise took as small bow as doing so.

"Elise Tenniel."

"Well then, Elise, enjoy your stay~"

And with that smile, she left the room.

-~:{+}:~-

Heading down pearl corridors, Elise trailed two servants, followed be Edwin.

{These two servants don't have faces either. Unless I've been drugged or something, I suppose it really must be a normal thing here.}

Arrive outside the guest accommodations, the servants bowed and went to preform their other duties. Edwin stepped foreword, as if to say something, but sighed and turned to leave.

"Wait a minute. Where are you going? I have a few questions to ask."

"Questions?"

"Yeah, questions. I was actually wondering something, about the people here… Why don't they have, faces?"

He hesitated.

"They don't have roles. Those with faces are roleholders. They are important, and there must be someone preform each role. Those who do not are faceless, thus unimportant and only need to worry about their place as servants. Depressing, isn't it?"

With his statement, he sighed and walked off. Elise stood still. That explanation seemed so second-rate at best. Not that it was lacking information, but more as if it was just some basic fact of life or something.

{Roles? Faceless? Importance? What kind of world is this? Who chooses the value of people like that!?}

She paced around the room. Left then right, swaying with each step. Curious as the the implications of everything, Elise recalled her encounters with each queen.

{A White Queen. And a Red Queen. Pawns, rooks, the board. This entire world is like a game of chess, isn't it. The Queen did refer to Edwin as a rook, right?}

Looking out the window, the sky had become just as deep and dark as summer nights. "What? It's night already? The sun didn't even set."

Believing to be no use in questioning it now, she decided to get some rest. The entire situation was tiring anyway, nighttime or not. Barely capable of lifting her eyelashes, she plopped onto a large bed, not even bothering to stay awake.

Notes: Yeah, so imagine Aria with a sort of posh, midwestern accent. If you've ever seen the Great Gatsby and how Daisy speaks, except Aria is less annoying.

References: Aria also has a musical themed name. I didn't know wether to have it in the Joker or Diamond timeline yet, but I'll get to Alice and familiar characters after some building, yes? Look at Elise, a little architecture nerd. Also, I'm not going to give you an in-depth explanation as to how all this stuff works. I mean, I'll give Elise enough explanation to put the pieces together herself in her own mind, but I doubt you need a repeat of everything.